Return of the Abysswalker
by Kien Kotei
Summary: Artorias. A man hailed as a hero of legendary proportions. Thought to have died stopping the Abyss. However thanks to the violation of time and space he has returned in a new and strange world. Now facing a new enemy he fights alongside warriors known only as "Claymore's". Watch as he fights to save these new allies from their creators. Watch the Return of the Abysswalker.
1. Chapter 1

Dark Souls x Claymore crossover

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story

Prologue

The wind blew silently through the forest as a lone figure made its way towards a dilapidated arena. The click clak of armor on stone soon followed as the figure wound its way through the halls of the remnants of the once powerful Kingdom of Oolacile. Brown rock that had at one point in time been marble was now cracked and hewn from the ravages of time, nature and the countless battles that had once taken place in this vast colosseum.

That silence was soon disturbed by the clik clak of armor, a sound not heard in centuries. A lone female knight entered the arena, her armor resplendent despite the wear and tear it had endured over countless battles. The fabric while faded still proudly presented it's light blue colors to the enemy and to the world.  
>As she entered the arena a lone Bloat-head was standing across from her, its head shaking from its silent cackling. Just as the creature of the abyss was about to attack however, a shrill inhuman cry rang out from the outside of the arena. The Bloat-head looked around as if in abject terror before running away towards the other end of the arena.<p>

It never made it. In a blur of worn royal dark blue, a large figure impaled the creature on a greatsword of impressive size. Armor, once a silver that shone proudly in the sun, now marred by black blood, and rent by a titanic struggle. Dark royal blue fabric that was ripped, worn and covered in black blood to the point that it almost wasn't blue anymore. Before her stood the once proud and vigilant Artorias, one of Lord Gwyn's Four knights, and hailed throughout Lordran as the Abysswalker. The knight while still a hulking giant, was hunched over holding the greatsword in his right hand, the Bloat-head still impaled on it.

As the Chosen Undead stepped forward to challenge the now corrupted knight, he unleashed another inhumane howl before swinging his greatsword and sending the body of the impaled bloat-head towards her, which she easily dodged. However some remnant of Artorias was still fighting in the subconcious part of his mind.  
>While he desperately tried to warn the newcomer none of his words would be heard, Manus would not have it, not while this interloper held his precious necklace.<p>

"Whatever thou art, stay away!" he desperately cried in vain on the fringes of what little remained of his humanity. "Soon... I will be consumed... by them, by the Dark."  
>he again tried to no avail. Crouching low Artorias then jumped and brought down his greatsword making the ground tremble. The knight had rolled to the side with great speed and agility despite the heavy armor she was wearing. Holding her crouched position she swung her Silver Knight's Sword and caught him across the torso. Artorias showed no physical reaction to the blow, which would have crippled most foes, possibly have cut them in half.<p>

Artorias simply released another howl before raising his greatsword and bringing it down again in an overhand smash. Rolling to the side again she backed up putting some space between her and the corrupted knight. His response was to charge her swinging his greatsword in a low arcing circle. Most people would have dodged jumped back, instead she crouched low moved towards Artorias and raised her shield over her head. His sword swung over her shield and briefly connected with the shield sending sparks flying into the air. Twisting around till she was behind him she delivered three swift blows to his back. Realeasing another rage filled howl Artorias turned and thrust his sword forward with inhumane strength, he missed by a hair however as she jumped to the side.

"Rrrreuuuuuuggghhhhhhh!" Artorias cried in pain both physically and mentally, Manus was pouring more power into Artorias trying to completely take over his mind.  
>Artorias (largely thanks to his iron will) held out and endured the pain of the Father of the Abyss's rage. Manus however deep beneath his former prison was furious, while Artorias was a powerful foe, against the master and creator of the dark flame his power was nothing. Yet here a lone warrior was besting one his most powerful corrupted warriors. He didn't consider the people of Oolacile to be that strong and gladly threw them in the warrior's way. What was infuriating to Manus was that he could sense his necklace with this undead.<p>

"End her! End her now and bring me my necklace Artorias, I command thee!" the Father of the Abyss cried in rage, and disappointment. Manus' voice while powerful and deep held little power over the knight, for only one man could command him and that man had left for the Kiln of the First Flame ages ago. Artorias continued to resist with as much might as he could muster. "Thou art strong human, surely thine kind are more than Dark." "I beg of thee, the spread of the Abyss... must be stopped."

In the physical realm the female knight was reaching her limit and would need to end this soon. A shroud of darkness began to surround Artorias and throwing his broken arm forward releasing a black purplish sludge that crashed on the ground near her. Taking a few cautionary steps back she then noticed him crouched down.  
>Jumping up and preforming a somersault and slamming his sword down where she had been. The sword dug deep into the cracked marble of the arena, and the knight barely had enought time to dodge the next two somersaulting blows.<p>

However after the last blow she tripped over a stray piece of rubble. In actuality this saved her life as Artorias swung horizontally in the hopes of killing her.  
>Flipping his sword so he was holding it with the blade facing downward Artorias sent the sword down with all his remaining might. At the same time, through sheer will and desperation to defeat this enemy, the chosen undead grabbed her sword in both hands and charged with her remaining strength. His greatsword ended embedded in the cracked marble, her sword impaled through his armor and his heart.<p>

Artorias screamed in sheer agony as the darkness inside his body rushed out through the mortal wound. After the last of it finally left his body his weight began to overpower the victorious warrior. Moving out from under his collapsing body she saw the face of her unwilling opponent. His hair was black and matted in many places, most likely from fighting the forces of the abyss for so long. His face was young, almost as if the gods themselves had chiseled it from the finest marble.  
>His eyes were a piercing sky blue that shone defiantly in the setting sun of Oolacile reflecting his legendary iron will.<p>

"Thank you fellow warrior... for ending my pain." Artorias began (had there been any fair maidens (or fangirls) they would have promptly fainted from loss of blood)  
>for his voice sounded as if it were carried by the wind. "I despise having to do so, but I must ask thee to complete" Artorias was briefly cut off as a fit of coughing overcame him, "my mission." he continued in a strained manner and clearly wincing from the pain of talking. "The...spread...of..the...abyss." At this point the warrior held up a single hand to silence him. Artorias could only stare as the warrior reached up and removed her helm. Had he any breathe left he was sure he would have been gaping in awe. Platinum blonde hair lined a face that felt as if it was created by angels and was made of the purest ivory.<p>

Her eyes were pure silver and held a melancholic sadness in them. Artorias wasn't sure as to whether he was dead or dreaming (the pain reasurred him that he was very much alive if not slowly dying) because when the setting sun was directly behind her he could have sworn that he saw wings of the purest white from her back.  
>"Do not worry Artorias." she said and her voice could very well have been confused for that of one made by an angel. "I will carry out your mission and slay the monster behind this darkness," reaching for her sword (which she had removed some time ago) she held it up in front of her face. "I Teresa of the Faint Smile hereby declare that I will finish this mission in your stead." Artorias smiled "Thank you...Lady...Teresa." he said. As she turned to leave she heard his last dying words. "Ah, Sif! There you are! All of you...forgive me...for I have availed you nothing." He solemnly said.<p>

With that Teresa of the Faint Smile pressed on determined more than ever to end this nightmare.

Some time later Chasm of the Abyss

Teresa had fought her way through the labyrinth that was the Oolacile prison eventually arriving at Manus' former cell. Having smashed the wall she had arrived at the top of the chasm (which, she added, had been aptly named) in the distance she could easily see multiple red eyes staring disconcertingly at her position. "That must be Manus." she said to herself mentally. On her way down she was confronted with a new foe. These were similar to the humanities that she had been collecting and while they were quite weak the problem was that there were so many. To that end she had resorted to using her more powerful pyromancy spells to destroy larger groupings. Near the bottom of the abyss however she stopped in her tracks. A faint howling could be heard but only for those with the keenest of hearing. But this was no ordinary howl, this was the howl of a wolf.

Looking around she noted a particularly suspiscous pillar. Striking it immediately dissolved the illusion, and upon making her way forward she found an interesting sight. A small group of phantoms were trying to attack a fairly large grey wolf, this wolf was protected however by a large shield casting a protective aura around the wolf. She immediately went into action swiftly striking down all of the phantoms in the vicinity.

After the last one vanished after being slayed she turned to the wolf and then knelt beside it. Reaching out her hand she let the wolf give a cautious sniff before he let her pet him and scratch behind his left ear. The wolf then gave a mournful howl before vanishing into the river of time and space. Teresa gave a small sigh, then steeled herself for the coming battle and set off with renewed vigor.


	2. Chapter 2: New Enemies, New Allies

Return of the Abysswalker

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story

Chapter 1: New Enemies, New Allies

P.O.V. Artorias

The scent of wet dirt filled Artorias' nose as he slowly got up and examined his new surroundings. Tree's far more massive than anything he had seen in Lordran or Oolacile towered above. As Artoria's took note of his surroundings another scent began to mix with the damp of the forest. The scent of death.  
>Somewhere near his current area a town was being either ransacked or slaughtered, or both. Spotting (and grabbing) his sword in the nearby earth Artorias set off, following the unpleasant smell to its source. What he could never have possibly imagined was that this action would introduce him to a scourge that (in some ways) made fighting the creatures of the Abyss far more pleasant.<p>

He soon reached a clearing where upon exiting he found a fairly large camp that would suit at least 15 people. However just from the stench alone it was clear what had happened to the people, either someone or something had killed them. He soon found one of the bodies of the victims, had he not seen what the Darkwraith's did with their victims, Artorias may very well have lost (what little remained of) his last meal. The body had been desecrated beyond recognition and on top of that he could make out teeth marks on the corpse as well.

"I pray that thou hast found rest with the gods thou worshipped." he offered in silent prayer for the souls of these victims. Whatever had done this must still have been close as the bodies were still fairly fresh. While the village was empty Artorias could feel the eyes of whatever did this watching him. As far as he was concerned he didn't like the feelings he was sensing from wherever it was watching. Artorias sorely wished to find who or whatever was responible for this massacre. In truth he was morally divided on that thought. Physically he was nowhere near his prime and while his inner knight was screaming for retribution, he was not a tactless brute like many thought he was.

Artorias soon sensed movement behind him but made no indication that he had noticed. He crouched as if he was getting closer to inspect the body, his sword touching the earth as a makeshift cane. Sure enough whoever was behind him began to move closer, he could hear its breathing and smell the scent of death on it. Just as he felt one of its arms close in he struck! With a mighty swing his sword went up and cleaved its arm from its shoulder. The creature howled in pain and dashed back out into the entance of the camp.

P.O.V. Miria, Helen, Deneve.

Unfortunately for him three figures blocked his only route of escape. These figures wore tight fitting silver grey leotards with gleaming silver shoulderpads and boots. On their backs were the weapons from which their name was given, three claymores stood blocking his path. They all had platinum blonde hair and the characteristic silver eyes, their hair was all different lengths though. The one in the middle had long hair that stopped at her neck, it spiked away at the sides.  
>She had a serious expression on her face. The one on the left had short hair and a serious expression practically stuck on her face. The last one was on the left and had jaw length hair and a relaxed carefree expression. "Well guess we found the yoma responsible for the disappearing camps Deneve." the one on the far left said eyeing the yoma with an indefferent look. "So it would seem Helen." Deneve replied from the far left. "Looks like the organization's information was wrong, this yoma's power is barely above that of an average one." she finished. "Huh?" Helen said confused from the far right, "Oh yeah, you're right." she said.<p>

"What do you want to do Miria?" Deneve asked the one in the lead. Miria took a closer look at the yoma in question and spotted its severed arm. "Oh, it seems this one has also been injured." she stated earning a shocked look from Helen and a raised eyebrow from Deneve. "Whoa!" Helen exlcaimed upon finding his arm (or lack thereof). "Who gave you that injury?" Miria demanded of the yoma, who only laughed in response before saying, "And what guarantee do I have that you Claymore's won't kill me anyway?" he said his left arm hovering over the stump of his former right arm.

"You don't." was all Miria said. The yoma began to laugh, that crazy last moments kind of laugh. Soon however it died down as the sound armored footsteps began to reverberate through the clearing. Behind the yoma and a few feet to the left in front of a small cabin a man in silver armor stepped out into the clearing.  
>His armor, while still shining defiantly in the sun, was covered in black. The blue cloth that was wrapped around his neck was frayed at the edges and also had black splotches across it. The chainmail that hung from his back was broken in places and his armor was rent in places. His right hand held the largest Great Sword any of them had seen, it's blade shone in the sun despite the wear and tear that was plain for all to see.<p>

The yoma started turning his head between the three claymore's and the mysterious warrior, his face clearly showed fear at having been trapped. Then the yoma turned and charged towards the mysterious warrior screaming with all the air in his lungs. The warrior then crouched down and the movement made his left arm plainly visible to the three claymore's. It was clearly broken, the odd angle at which it was hanging was evidence enough. What happened next shocked all three of them (even Deneve though she would never admit it).

At just the right moment the warrior spun and swung his greatsword cleaving the yoma's other arm off cleanly. Then taking a small step backward he lunged forward putting the sword clean through the yoma's lower torso. "Hahahahahaha! Nothing vital down there you bastard! Now, you die!" the yoma cried out in victory. "Then thou dost not consider thine head valuable?!"  
>the warrior said. With that the warrior shoved the sword straight up and cleaved the yoma's upper torso and head in two. Being in close proximity to the yoma made the warrior end up getting drenched in its blood.<p>

He then collapsed next to the vary creature he had just slain.


	3. Chapter 3: The Mission

Return of the Abysswalker

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story Thanks to Sunbro Wills It, Rickrolled, The Jackinati 275, The One and Only Mudkip and my two unknown reviewers for, well what else, reading and reviewing. And yeah I thought about that last line in ch 2 and ran both 'thine' and 'thy' with the sentence in my head and thine flowed more easily (to me at least). I will try to better my sentences in the future. \0/ Praise The Sun! P.S. Sorry for the long update got alot going on right now so updates may be sporadic.  
>Chapter 2: The mission<p>

The clik clak of her armor reverberated throughout the hall as Galatea made her way to the main hall of the Organization's headquarters. All along the hall the torches that were hanging or were hammered into the wall did little to brighten the cave like tunnels of the Organization's complex, in fact if anything they helped make it seem more depressing and foreboding than it already was.

Galatea quickened her pace slightly as she drew closer to the enormous double doors of the main hall. As she approached they swung open to reveal the heads of the organization gathered in their respective seats. In the center of them, leaning forward with his eyes only half open, was Rimuto. Very few Claymore's had ever met or laid eyes upon the founder of the Organization since the day it was founded.

"You summoned me sir?" Galatea asked in a monotone voice. "Yes, I did." Rimuto replied in an equally monotonous voice. "I have an assignment that requires someone of your particular skill set." Normally Galatea would get her assignments from her handler Ermita, to be summoned and briefed personally by Rimuto was a bit of a shock, it also told her how important to the Organization this was. "There is a prison to the south of our complex that holds yoma that we successfully captured for future study." Galatea's eyes briefly shifted to the head scientist of the Organization, Dae the scarred researcher that made all the Claymore's both past and present generations.

"A possible new warrior was put there against my orders." the culprit behind that did not need to be named, Dae had obviously done it knowing that there would be no repurcussions for doing so.  
>"Your objective is to find this warrior and if they are still alive to bring them back to the organization so that we may judge their abilities, if they are dead or have turned, well I'm sure you know the rest." She knew all to well, if they were dead then she would just simply report back and return to her regular assignments. If they turned yoma however then she would have to kill them and bring the body back for Dae to study, which is probably what he was hoping for in the first place. "Do you understand your assignment?" Rimuto finished.<p>

"Perfectly sir." she responded. Turning to leave she briefly turned back as Rimuto added one last piece of information. "Before you leave there is one last detail on your mission, you will be joined by three more single digit claymores." he added. Outwardly Galatea maintained an emotionless facade, but inwardly she was brainstorming as to why the Oragnization would need to send more than one single digit claymore on a scouting mission.

With that Galatea left the main hall and made her way outside the main entrance of the Organization. Standing outside the entrance were three other claymore's gathered near the southern trail.  
>As it turned out the other three were numbers 5, 6, and 9, Rafaela, Miria, and Jean. Wordlessly they all started off towards the south. Little did any of them expect that this encounter would radically change their lives.<p>

Within a few hours the prison came into site and all four stopped taking in the building that stood before them. Old, dilapidated and battered by the elements this building did not look like it could hold much of anything let alone yoma. All four claymores became uneasy after spotting it, not for what they saw (or rather sensed), but because of what they didn't see. Despite their best efforts none of them could sense even the slightest presence of any yoma. Unease began to play at their nerves as they moved towards the supposed "Prison".

Neutral P.O.V.

In the depths of the prison a lone figure sat against the wall of the prison, the hood covering his face made him look sinister, to complete that image two piercing blue eyes stared into the almost black abyss of the prison. In the depths of his mind however a battle was taking place over control over this warrior's very being. "Well now your resistance is surely impressive. For a human that is." Inside Artoria's mind a creature similar to the one he had killed days earlier was attempting to take over his mind. What it did not count on was his famous iron will.

"I have faced a creature far more foul and terrible than thee, thine's attempt is naught more than an annoyance wrought on by a fly pretending to be a dragon." His comeback struck a nerve with the manifestation of the creature as it's face tightened with rage. "Then this fly will prove you wrong and kill you here and now!" the manifestation charged him, but Artorias simply dodged every single blow. However when his mindscape shook his instincts told him something was wrong. "Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that while we're in here your body is in a berserk state and will attack anything that moves." the smile plastered into it's face only made his instincts kick into overdrive.

Claymore's p.o.v.

When they walked into the prison they expected to find a fairly large number of yoma, instead they found the bodies of every yoma inside the prison brutally killed. Their bodies were strewn about some were even buried in the walls, others had been torn limb from limb. All in all the claymore's were utterly shocked. What happened next nearly drove them to their knees. A yoki aura filled with nothing but pure killing intent crashed down on them nearly driving them to their knees. Activating their own yoki power the claymores attempted to fight back, but as soon as it appeared it vanished. "What in the name of the twin godesses was that?!" Miria said in astonishment.  
>"I have no idea" Galatea said "But I have a feeling its headed this way." she finished and sure enough the sound of armored foot steps soon entered the entrance.<p>

Soon enough a large figure entered. Silver armor and royal blue cloth wrapped around his body. Miria immediately recognized it as the warrior from before. "Wait, what's he doing in here?" This caught Galatea's attention, "Miria you know this thing?"  
>"I don't know his name but I have encountered him before, in fact he's the one who slew the yoma that I was assigned to slay." all the warrior's present were shocked at that statement. "What?! How could a human slay a yoma they don't have the strength to do that." Jean said. "I don't know but he dodged it easily and slew it with ease, whats more he wielded a sword at least twice his body length with ease." Galatea stared at the figure with a mix of awe and fear, how were they supposed to fight something like this?<p>

She would never know at that moment the warrior collapsed to his knees. He started a moment later shaking his head as if waking from a bad dream "As I said naught more than a fly pretending to be a dragon." he stated to nobody in particular as he stood up.  
>As he looked around he spotted the four claymores standing at the entrance swords drawn staring at him disconcertingly. "Who art thou?" he asked. "Look out!" one of them cried. Sensing movement behind him Artorias dove forward and turned using his left hand to slow himself.<p>

He then stared at his left hand in shock for he was quite sure his left arm had been broken quite severely by Manus. He had no time to ponder as the creature moved forward and brought both of its massive arms down on him. He caught both of them and drove his foot into the creatures gut pushing it back several feet. He reached to his back with his right hand for his sword but only found empty space. "What!? Of all things to lose it had to be my sword!" he swore in his mind. "Catch!" he heard and looking behind him he saw a sword come flying towards him. Catching the sword he found it to be lighter than he expected, although considering all he ever used was his greatsword that was to be expected. He brought the sword up and sliced the creature's right arm clean off, then crouched while turning to catch it across the midsection. He gripped the sword tightly in his hand as he brought it down on it's head, slicing the vile being in half.

The claymore's present stood in abject awe of this warrior who had slain an enormous yoma like it was nothing.

Turning around the warrior walked towards them stopping in front of Miria and turning the sword, offered it back to her hilt first. She grabbed it and sheathed it. "Who are you?" Galatea asked "My name is Artorias and thou art?" he replied bowing slightly to all four of them.  
>"I'm Galatea, this is Miria, Rafaela and Jean." she said gesturing to each claymore as she named them. Artorias lowered his hood revealing his face (for description see chapter 1), each claymore (though they would never admit it) had a slight rosy tint to their cheeks. "I, Artorias, do hereby swear to repay this debt shall the time come." All four claymore's stood stock still surprised at not only his gesture, but the fact that he had just slain an enormous yoma like it was nothing.<p>

Artorias stood once more looking to the four before him. Galatea shook herself from her stupor, remembering why they were there. "Actually there is something that you can do." Galatea said a small smile forming. "What would thou have me do?" he replied.  
>"In this world there are two kinds of beings, humans and yoma. Humans are self explanatory, yoma however are creatures of pure evil that feed off of human flesh." Artorias was briefly surprised but reflecting back on his experiences he wasn't that surprised after all his encounters with the creatures of the abyss. "I assume the Organization was thus created to combat these monstrosities?" he aked. She nodded in response, "Throughout the years they studied the yoma and a brealkthrough was eventually made, the first generation of our kind." "Thine kind?" he questioned. "We are a special breed of warrior who have had the flesh of a yoma implanted inside us, it is this that gives us the ability to fight the yoma on equal terms." Artorias had folded his arms with his right hand on his chin in a thinking manner.<p>

"However, the power of each of us varies so we are given numbers to identify how strong we are to other warrior's." Artorias then asked a question "What numbers were thou given?" Galatea looked at him briefly before smiling ever so slightly "I shall let the others tell you their numbers, as for myself I am ranked third in the organization." Rafaela then stepped forward and said "I am fifth within the organization." Miria stepped forward "I am sixth within the organization and I also bear the name Phantom Miria." Artorias looked at her intrigued "Phantom? Why would one as fair as thou bear a name such as that?" He questioned catching Miria off guard. "Now is not the time for demonstrations we need to return to Rimuto as soon as possible." Galatea curtly replied. "Before we continue though Jean did not tell you her number." Artorias turned to the short haired warrior an eyebrow raised "I hold the rank of ninth within the organization." she answered. "Now then with that done we must head back." Galatea said and with that they made their way back to the organization's headquarters.


End file.
